PEARSON SACK SHOCK
NIGEL PEARSON has been axed byWatford – despite delivering the best win percentage of the club’s top-flight managers since Graham Taylor.
Pearson, right, is believed to have fallen out with the club’s top brass after a
3-1 defeat in their relegation shoot-out againstWest Ham on Friday.
News of the first club in Premier League history to sack three head coaches in one season leaked out of Vicarage Road at lunchtime yesterday.
Hours later, the Hornets confirmed the astonishing move with just two games of the season left.
And the delay was thought to be because of legal discussions about the bonus Pearson was
due if he keptWatford in the top flight, which they are still on course to do.
Pearson has presided over seven of the Hornets’ eight Premier League wins this season after predecessors Javi Gracia and Quique Sanchez Flores managed just one in 15 games between them.
That gives him a win percentage of 32 per cent.
Under-23 coach Hayden Mullins, who was caretaker manager for a week after Flores was sacked in December, has been lined up to take charge at tomorrow’s home game against Manchester City.
When asked last Thursday if he expected to be in charge next season, Pearson said he was “hopeful” of being retained beyond the end of his short-term contract and believed he had an “agreement” in place.
Watford will now appoint a 13th manager in eight years since Sean Dyche was dumped for Gianfranco Zola in 2012.